Research on Fabrication Technologies and Service Performance of Metal Materials in Additive Manufacturing

A special issue of Metals (ISSN 2075-4701). This special issue belongs to the section "Additive Manufacturing".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2025 | Viewed by 556

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
State Key Laboratory of Solidification Processing, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an 710072, China
Interests: superalloys; intermetallics; metal matrix composites; phase transformation and solidification; additive manufacturing
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an 710072, China
Interests: additive manufaturing; metal matrix composites; mechanical composites; microstructure
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Additive manufacturing (AM) technology is increasingly demonstrating significant application potential in the field of material processing. AM alloys undergo unique cyclic thermal histories and layer-by-layer stacking during fabrication, resulting in distinct microstructural characteristics such as cellular structures, directional growth, grain refinement, anisotropy, residual stress, micropores, and microcracks. The grain refinement in AM alloys contributes to improved strength and toughness. However, different printing methods introduce pronounced anisotropy in mechanical properties, which may also increase susceptibility to crack initiation. In addition, residual stress can accelerate fatigue crack propagation. Consequently, understanding the formation mechanisms of various defects in AM processes and developing defect control strategies have attracted growing attention. Furthermore, defects in AM alloys—such as micropores, cracks, lack-of-fusion zones, and surface roughness—can readily lead to crack initiation and propagation, ultimately causing fracture failure. These defects significantly degrade the service life of AM alloys under conditions involving impact toughness, fatigue, and creep. Future research directions may focus on the following aspects:

  1. Elucidating the microstructural evolution mechanisms of AM alloys.
  2. Optimizing AM process parameters and post-processing strategies.
  3. Investigating the fracture mechanisms of AM materials under service conditions.
  4. Establishing more accurate and reliable fracture prediction models.
  5. Developing novel high-performance AM metals and composites.
  6. Exploring the service performance of AM alloys in extreme environments.

Research in these areas will play a crucial role in advancing additive manufacturing technology and materials science.

Prof. Dr. Rui Hu
Dr. Xian Luo
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • additive manufacturing
  • metal
  • service performance
  • defects
  • impact toughness
  • fatigue
  • creep
  • fracture behavior
  • prediction models
  • metal matrix composites

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

14 pages, 1972 KB  
Article
Influence of Adjusted Melt Pool Geometries on Residual Stress in 316L LPBF Processes
by Fabian Eichler, Nicolae Balc, Sebastian Bremen and Julius Sauren
Metals 2025, 15(9), 1010; https://doi.org/10.3390/met15091010 - 11 Sep 2025
Viewed by 432
Abstract
Residual stress remains a significant challenge in the widespread adoption of the Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF) process, due to its detrimental impact on dimensional accuracy and post-processing requirements and hinders further processing with methods such as welding. Different strategies have already been [...] Read more.
Residual stress remains a significant challenge in the widespread adoption of the Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF) process, due to its detrimental impact on dimensional accuracy and post-processing requirements and hinders further processing with methods such as welding. Different strategies have already been explored to reduce or mitigate these stresses, including preheating, alternating scan strategies, and heat treatments. In this study, a less commonly investigated approach is examined: the influence of melt pool geometry—specifically layer height and track width—on the residual stresses in LPBF-manufactured 316L stainless steel. By systematically varying these parameters, the resulting internal stress states are compared by distortion measurements of cantilever parts to determine potential correlations and mechanisms of influence. The findings aim to contribute to a deeper understanding of process–structure–property relationships in LPBF and to offer a new avenue for stress control through geometrical process parameter optimization. It can be concluded that among all the strategies for preventing and mitigating residual stress in LPBF, the examined approach has a relatively small influence. The results show that increasing layer thickness and decreasing spot diameter have beneficial effects on the resulting deformations. Full article
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